I'll try not to mislead parliament: Qld MP

Former Queensland minister Ros Bates says she will try not to mislead parliament again. Source: AAP

FORMER Queensland minister Ros Bates says she will make sure she doesn't unintentionally mislead parliament again.

In October, Ms Bates read a letter to parliament on behalf of her son Ben Gommers, who was defending himself against what he claimed were constant media attacks about his appointment to a plum government job in Queensland's transport department.

A parliamentary ethics committee last month found that Ms Bates had misled parliament when she read on behalf of her son: "At no stage did my mother employ me, nor did she ask anyone to give me a job."

The committee found Ms Bates emailed her son's resume to the department's then director-general Michael Caltabiano, a former state Liberal MP.

While the committee found Ms Bates' statement misleading, they also found she did not know it was misleading, because she didn't make the connection between the expression of her son's opinion and the emails she had sent.

Ms Bates told parliament on Wednesday she will make sure she doesn't mislead Queensland's Legislative Assembly again.

"I acknowledge that it is possible, although rare and unlikely, that a technically correct statement may be misleading," she said.

"I note that as a member of this house I should endeavour at all times to ensure the accuracy of my statements as they may give rise to an unintentional misleading of the house, as was the case with this referral."

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Deficit levy makes sense: Deloitte

Arthur Sinodinos' wife fined $815

THE wife of embattled senator ­Arthur Sinodinos has failed in her attempt to overturn a licence ­suspension after an overdue speeding fine.

Government sacks medical experts

ACCESS to high-cost drugs for rare diseases is set to be more difficult after the government sacked over 20 medical experts from advisory committees.

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Thylacine cameraman copped buttocks bite

The cameraman who took footage of the last captive Tasmanian tiger was bitten by the animal. Source: AAP

THE cameraman who took the famous footage of the last captive Tasmanian tiger was bitten on the buttocks while filming.

Biologist David Fleay's pictures shot at a Hobart zoo in 1933 are known around the world as the haunting last images of an animal nearing extinction.

A tiger, or thylacine, known as Benjamin, is seen pacing uncomfortably inside a concrete pen three years before it was to become the last of its species to die in captivity.

But a new exhibition at Launceston's Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery has shed more light on the shoot.

The museum is displaying witness accounts, remembered by Fleay's daughter Rosemary, that recall him being bitten after two warning "yawns" from the tiger.

"The animal managed to get behind him and bite him on the buttocks," curator David Maynard told AAP.

"He had fair warning and he got what was coming to him."

Fleay, who was working under a curtain commonly used by photographers in the early 20th Century, suffered no serious injury.

"Other than his pride," Mr Maynard said.

"Most likely the tiger would have left puncture marks.

"They have quite large canine teeth."

The thylacine was a top-level predator but was generally shy towards people.

No deaths by tigers were ever recorded but the story of one attempting to drag away an 11-year-old boy survives.

Aboriginal folklore has stories of babies being taken by thylacines, Mr Maynard said.

"They were persecuted because of their supposed impact on sheep farming but that's totally overblown," he said.

"It's more likely it was wild dogs."

The museum still receives reports of sightings at least monthly but Mr Maynard said there is no credible evidence the animal survives.

They were slow-growing, producing few young, and the last wild tiger was killed in 1930.

"At best they lived in the wild until 1950," Mr Maynard said.

"The last one probably died in the wild alone and unknown.

"The road kill in Tasmania is exceptional - 293,000 animals a year - and not one of them in the last 50 years has been a thylacine."

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Lessons to be learned from RAMSI: report

IN an era of tight budgets and slashed aid spending, it's hard to imagine the Australian government handing out hundreds of millions of dollars, year after year, to prop up one of its tiny Pacific neighbours.

But in the 10 years to 2013, the government did just that, spending almost $2.6 billion heading the 15-nation Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

A diplomat who served with RAMSI says the Abbott government could learn a lot from that mission as it realigns its foreign policy to the Asia-Pacific region and looks for returns on aid spending.

In a new report for the Lowy Institute, Jenny Hayward-Jones examines RAMSI successes and failures and questions the merit of spending so much on a country of little strategic importance.

"I think the lessons of RAMSI have shown perhaps there was a bit of an over response," the diplomat turned Lowy Institute researcher told AAP.

There was fear in July 2003 that the Solomons, reeling from ethnic violence and economic malaise, could become a haven for terrorists and criminals if allowed to collapse.

Ms Hayward-Jones admits Honiara was in trouble when she arrived in the capital as a policy adviser to find gangs running the city.

"The government couldn't function because it was being held at gunpoint to hand over government cheques and so forth to thugs and criminals," she said.

RAMSI quickly helped restore order, stabilise the economy and rebuild the bureaucracy.

But the mission had no exit plan and Australia ended up footing the bulk of the bill for 10 years.

When Ms Hayward-Jones went looking for a breakdown of government spending on RAMSI years later, she was shocked to find such detailed numbers didn't exist.

"Australia along the way was not counting up how much it was costing to do all of those things," she said.

It appears a decade worth of bankrolling the mission earned Australia little recognition, with most Solomon islanders surveyed last year unaware Australia was the biggest contributor.

This should ring alarm bells for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who wants more visibility for Australia's aid programs and to be the "partner of choice" for Pacific nations.

Ms Hayward-Jones said the government should also not assume the region at large is peaceful simply because the military-component of RAMSI had concluded.

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Ice harm spikes, especially in Vic regions

ACUTE health problems caused by crystal methamphetamine use have spiked sharply across Victoria in recent years, but especially in regional areas, research shows.

Ambulance crews attended 198 per cent more call-outs to deal with acute health effects from the drug, also known as ice, in the 2012/13 financial year compared with the previous year.

In metropolitan Melbourne, acute ambulance call-outs rose by 88 per cent over the same period.

The figures were compiled by Ambulance Victoria and drug and alcohol treatment and research group Turning Point in the Trends in Alcohol and Drug-Related Ambulance Attendances in Victoria 2012/13 report, to be launched on Thursday.

Turning Point researcher Belinda Lloyd called for government, health agencies, community groups, law enforcement bodies, business and residents to work together solve the prevalence of ice across the state.

She said the figures only represented acute cases and did not address overall ice use.

"Certainly the evidence suggests that the level of use is increasing overall, but this increase in acute health harm is a cause for concern," she said.

"We need more information and we need to be more innovative in the way that we address those issues."

Acute health effects include mental health conditions such as anxiety, paranoia and psychosis; injuries caused by falls, motor vehicle accidents or violence; and physiological symptoms such as heart palpitations and shortness of breath.

Dr Lloyd said increased availability of ice, increased purity and changes in the way the drug is ingested could be factors in the spike in acute ambulance call-outs.

"Crystal methamphetamine has been available in larger cities and particularly in the inner suburbs, but now it is a lot more common in regional and remote areas," she said.

Dr Lloyd said the ice epidemic was prominent in those regions but affects the whole state.

The report found acute ambulance call-outs for cannabis and ecstasy had risen 51 per cent and 61 per cent respectively in 2012/12.

Over the same period, cannabis and ecstasy call-outs rose 58 per cent and 62 per cent respectively in regional Victoria.

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Nintendo says no to virtual equality

Arthur Sinodinos' wife fined $815

THE wife of embattled senator ­Arthur Sinodinos has failed in her attempt to overturn a licence ­suspension after an overdue speeding fine.

Government sacks medical experts

ACCESS to high-cost drugs for rare diseases is set to be more difficult after the government sacked over 20 medical experts from advisory committees.

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German art trove left to Swiss museum

Arthur Sinodinos' wife fined $815

THE wife of embattled senator ­Arthur Sinodinos has failed in her attempt to overturn a licence ­suspension after an overdue speeding fine.

Government sacks medical experts

ACCESS to high-cost drugs for rare diseases is set to be more difficult after the government sacked over 20 medical experts from advisory committees.

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Jobless rate tipped to rise

AUSTRALIA'S unemployment rate is expected to have risen in April, and economists warn a tough budget could see further deterioration in the jobs market.

Jobs data to be released on Thursday is expected to show the unemployment rate rose to 5.9 per cent in April, from 5.8 per cent in March, according to an AAP survey of 15 economists.

Most economists think the jobless rate will get worse before it gets better, as the economy struggles with the high Australian dollar and tries to adjust to the wind-down in mining investment.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said a tough budget could have a detrimental impact on hiring.

"It's certainly something that will impact on sentiment, if nothing else, and that sometimes encourages businesses to become a bit more cautious in labour hiring and, of course, there's a risk that public sector employment takes a hit," he said.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics releases labour force data on Thursday.

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